The debate over insurers rating doctors encapsulates a lot of what
people are fighting over in health care these days: Who should have
access to what information, how to determine quality of care, and the
roles insurers and doctors should play. But even as the debate
continues, it’s clear that consumers will get more information about
their doctors, and insurers are starting to dish it out.

The insurer will stop short of recommending particular doctors. And,
the article reports, it will follow the rating model established by
negotiations between the New York AG’s office
and several big insurers. One key element is disclosing the criteria
that go into rating doctors, and allowing doctors to appeal their
ratings.

Docs have argued that insurers have an incentive to send patients to the cheapest — but not necessarily the best — doctors. Dr. William Edwards, a vascular surgeon who served on an advisory
panel to the Blues on the ratings, said that doctors who see sicker
patients could be at a disadvantage because their costs would be
higher. “If you publish that data, you run the risk that those doctors
could become averse to taking on those risky patients because it makes
them look bad,” he told the Tennessean. . . . .